The Dangerous Side of “Dog Training”
Dog training as a profession has evolved over the years as scientific breakthroughs and better understanding of our furry pals has given us the ability to change the way we train and live with them. There has been a massive shift from the ideas of compulsion training and obedience to training based positive reinforcement and training for welfare and safety. Unfortunately, the field is still unregulated and so anyone with any level of qualification (including none) can set up businesses training dogs and give behavioural advice in very complicated cases. This has led to a great divide in the training profession, between those advocating for science-based methods and those clinging on to punishment-based training and ideas of ‘dominance’ and ‘alpha theory’ which have long been scientifically debunked by those who founded the ideas.
Unfortunately, this means that there is a mine field of conflicting advice for those dog guardian’s looking for help, especially so on the internet. Trainers offering out-dated and severely dangerous advice appear to gain the most traction on social media and are given popular TV shows. Sadly, people who genuinely love their dogs and want the best for them are finding themselves paying “so called professionals” who offer quick fix solutions through harsh training methods and dangerous pieces of equipment. Often when a ‘professional’ tells one to do something, that person will believe that they have the education and experience background to give such advice, and therefore it must be the best way. It is therefore so important that the fight to regulate this industry continues and succeeds for safety of both dogs and people.
However, you may hear someone claim that “there is more than one way to train a dog” and we should accept differing views on how to work with dogs, and this would be true if those methods are all welfare-friendly and safe. However, training should never be used to cause fear, pain, or stress. Many of these methods and equipment that are recommended are detrimental to a dog’s mental health and on-going welfare.
This is never okay.
Sadly ‘traditional’, ‘balanced’ and ‘obedience-training’ may look like it works in the short term as fear, avoidance, and stress will only suppress the behaviour/s. This often leads to a behavioural state called shut down – where a dog looks seemingly calm, is no longer performing the unwanted behaviour, but is internally stressed and just avoiding the negative experience. This quick result can be quite reinforcing for the guardian and encourage continued use, especially if the behaviour prevented was previously stressful to them too such as reactivity or aggression. But quick fixes rarely last! And often, it comes with behavioural fall out later down the line through increased levels of stress and anxiety bubbling under the surface. Behavioural advice should never mask an issue, it should look for the reason why the behaviour occurs, and work to help that dog cope better going forward. Behaviour advice should also only ever be given under vet referral. Nearly as many as 70-90% of behaviour cases involve some kind of medical issue or pain. Training and equipment will never solve any of these cases, when the medical issue is not dealt with first.
Examples of some pieces of equipment that are recommended, and are sadly still legal in the UK, include – prong collars, choke chains, shock collars and slip leads (among others). Technically any piece of equipment can be used in an aversive way, but the above pieces only work on punishment and pain to reduce unwanted behaviour.
The dangers of using prong/ choke collars:
The dangers of shock collars (including vibration collars):
Punishment in Dog Training
Deliberate use of punishment has no place in safe dog training, morally or ethically. But what is punishment defined as scientifically? It is “a consequence that reduces a behaviour”. There are two types of punishment, positive and negative. Positive punishment is – adding an adverse consequence, negative punishment is – removing a pleasant stimulus to reduce behaviour. Alternativity, there is the option for reinforcement, both positive and negative. Positive reinforcement – aims to reward desirable behaviour to increase the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated in the future. Negative reinforcement - aims to increase specific behaviours by removing negative consequences or stimuli. Although all four of these quadrants naturally occur beyond one’s control through environmental influences, when creating a training plan and actively setting up a training situation ‘positive reinforcement’ should be the only quadrant applied.
Science has shown us the punishment is never required in training dogs, or any learner dog or otherwise. Of course, some more challenging behaviours will always take more time, effort, careful management and practice of new behavioural strategies to create new patterns of behaviour. Can you imagine going to a medical therapist and expecting that your long-standing mental health issue would be solved in one session or in a day or week? No, but we forget that dogs need time to heal and learn too.
Ultimately in the end, your goal should always be for your dog to feel safe and happy in their short life they get to spend with us.
See here for an previous blog by Wanderdog about the negative effects of punishment in training - https://www.wanderdog.co.uk/single-post/2019/03/16/does-punishment-work
See here for a great article with 8 important questions you should ask any dog trainer before working with them, and how to find a good dog trainer - https://www.potterpaws.co.uk/blog-post/8-questions-to-ask-a-dog-trainer-before-you-hire-them/
FINDING QUALIFIED TRAINERS & BEHAVIOURISTS
The best place to look for qualified and assessed dog trainers is with the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers):
However, dog trainers can only teach new behaviours (e.g. recall/ lead walking skills/ tricks), if you need help resolving a behaviour issue (modifying an existing behaviour such as aggression, reactivity, anxiety, frustration, guarding, separation issues ect) you require a behaviourist or vet behaviourist.
See our article here if you are unsure which you need - https://www.wanderdog.co.uk/training-and-behaviour-explained
See below for trusted organisations for registered/ qualified clinical behaviourists (including vet behaviourists):
Locally for vet behaviour we recommend - London Vet Behaviour - https://www.thelondonvet.com
Alternatively, Lincoln University Clinic has some of the top vet and clinical behaviourist minds - https://animalbehaviourclinic.lincoln.ac.uk
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